Saturday, September 17, 2011

About 60 people gathered on Wednesday September 14 in Cincinnati Ohio to attend the monthly liturgy. The community continues to grow and is empowered to live as the people of God who are called to be Christ to the world and to each other. It is heartwarming to worship God with this group of progressive, forward thinking people. Janice Sevre-Duszynska presided and the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church, Eileen O’Reilly gave the homily. Eileen’s message was inspirational and encouraged us to be the light of Christ to others in our everyday lives. Cheri Lawson recorded the liturgy and plans to use the recording in the story she is putting together for NPR'sThe World. This was the first time I attended a liturgy since I have been ordained a deacon and Janice announced this to the group. They warmly received me and asked me to share my story about my path toward ordination. I enjoyed letting them know that my first experience with ARCWP happened when I attended one of their liturgies a little over a year ago. It is exciting to see the Spirit continue to breath new life into our church each time a Woman Priest is ordained and a community begins to form in response to this important movement that is reforming the Roman Catholic Church.

With Mary, in the Magnificat, we rejoice. This is the day God has made, let us rejoice and be glad as we witness the historic ordination of 3 Catholic women in the DC area.

Roman Catholic Women priests are a “holy shakeup” rocking the church. Nothing can stop the movement of the Spirit toward human rights, justice and equality that is occurring now in our world and in our church. The full equality of women is the voice of God in our time. Today Adele Jones, from Texas and Dorothy Shugrue, from Connecticut are making history as they answer God’s call to serve the people of God as priests in the Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests. Donna Rougeux, from Kentucky is making history as she answers God’s call to serve the people of God as a deacon.The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is a branch of the worldwide movement that is living Jesus’ example of Gospel inclusivity where all are welcome in God’s embrace.We are reclaiming our early church tradition of ordained women in a renewed priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church.We are not leaving the church, we are leading the church in prophetic obedience to the Spirit.In the first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, God calls us to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and to work for justice. We are to “bring Good News to those who are poor, to heal broken hearts and to proclaim release to those held captive and liberation to those in prison.” This means that commitment to justice and to the poor reflects the heart of our liberating God’s transforming action in the world.As theologian Elizabeth Johnson reminds us in Quest for the Living God: “The God of life is bent with passionate care over those who suffer injustice. We “know God” better in solidarity with the poor as disciples recognized Christ in the breaking of the bread.”As part of an international initiative, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests claims equality as a human right. Our vision is justice for all, justice for the poor, justice for women, and justice for women in the church including ordination.Like the Elders, an eminent group of global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela, we challenge the harmful teachings and practices which justify discrimination against women. Like the Elders and other human rights organizations, church reform groups such as the Women’s Ordination Conference, Call to Action, the Federation of Christian Ministries and CORPUS, we call on leaders of all religions to work for the ideal of equality that the world's major faiths share.

Sexism, like racism, is a sin. Like Rosa Parks, whose refusal to sit in the back of the bus helped to ignite the civil rights movement, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is disobeying an unjust law that discriminates against women. Since our first women bishops were ordained by a male bishop with apostolic succession, we ordain women validly in our church. We use equal rites to achieve equal rights. Women priests are visible reminders that women are equal images of God and therefore worthy to preside at the altar. According to the Pew Survey one in ten Americans are former Catholics. One of the reasons that 39 percent of former Catholics left the Church is the unjust treatment of women.Roman Catholic Women Priests welcome all to receive the Eucharist at our liturgies, families, single parents, the divorced and remarried, gays and lesbians, bisexual and transgender, and all those who find themselves on the fringes of the institutional church for whatever reason. We minister wherever we find a need for God's compassion especially to those who are underserved by our institutional church. Our priests work with the poor, homeless, elderly, and addicted, in peace and justice ministry, house churches, hospitals, hospices and schools.In 2002, 7 women were ordained priests on the Danube. In 2006, 12 women were ordained in Pittsburgh in the first U.S ordination. Now there are approximately 120 worldwide. Women Priests are in 27 states, 9 countries, in Europe, the U.S, Canada, and Latin America.In 2011 the good news is that male priests and bishops, as well as theologians have expressed their support of female priests. They are following in the footsteps of Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois whose prophetic call for a dialogue on women priests is being affirmed in more and more places today in our church.A award-winning documentary, Pink Smoke Over the Vatican , shares the stories of some of these women who have found a way to serve God’s people as women priests including Janice Sevre-Duszynska who was ordained in Lexington, Kentucky in 2008.Fr. Roy Bourgeois participated in that ordination. He celebrated Eucharist and gave a prophetic homily- heard around the world- in support of women priests. This resulted in his excommunication and Vatican attempts to pressure Maryknoll to dismiss him from the Order. Now over 200 priests have signed a letter of public support for Fr. Roy.Here are a few examples of top church leaders and priest groups who have recently joined the wave of enthusiasm for female priests:--- Bishop William Morris, from Australia, was forced to resign by the Vatican for wanting to discuss married priests and women priests as a possible response to the shortage of priests. However, the National Council of Priests of Australia released a statement in support of Bishop Morris. http://www.catholicnetwork.us/calls-for-reform/priests-support-bishop-sacked-by-vatican/---400 Austrian priests issued a "Call to Disobedience" to promote priesthood for women and married men.http://www.ncronline.org/news/global/300-austrian-clerics-call-women-priests---Over 250 German speaking theologians called for an end to mandatory celibacy and for women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church..http://thegreatone22.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/---Bishop Willie Walsh, Fr Enda McDonagh, and the Jesuit theologian Fr Gerry O'Hanlon, among others, have advocated the idea of an Irish synod involving clergy and laity including discussion of the role of women in ministry in the church. http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/stifled-by-weight-of-romes-pomp-power-and-stubborn-patriarchy-2835994.html----A male priest co-celebrated the ordination liturgy of Marta Soto, the first woman priest ordained in Latin America. Two male priests co-presided with Janice Sevre-Duszynska at peace and justice liturgies.http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2011/03/making-history-again-first-woman.htmlYou will notice in our liturgy today that we use female images of God. While God is beyond all names and images, it is important to incorporate feminine images of God in order to offer a fuller understanding of God that is rooted in our Judeo-Christian tradition. As theologian Elizabeth Johnson notes: “only if the full reality of historical women of all races and classes enters into our symbol of the divine, only then will the idolatrous fixation on one image of God be broken, will women be empowered at their deeper core and will religious and civic communities be converted toward healing justice in the concrete.” (Quest for the Living God, p.110)

The Old Testament introduces a female figure of God. She is called Sophia in Greek, Wisdom in English. The New Testament identifies the crucified Christ with the Wisdom of God.… “In first Corinthians, we read: “ We are preaching a Messiah nailed to a cross…to those who have been called, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.” ( 1 Cor. 1:22-24) Therefore, St. Paul makes the connection between the crucified Jesus of Nazareth and Holy Wisdom , Christ -Sophia.

This is the day our God has made, a day of hope for the Catholic Church, as three women answer God’s call to serve God’s people as deacon and priests. Blessings on you, Donna, Adele, and Dorothy faith-filled women of courage as you live Gospel justice and equality now.So, as our hearts burn within us, we pray: “May Christ-Sophia dwell in your hearts through faith, so that you, being rooted and grounded in love, will be able to grasp fully the breadth, length, height, and depth of Christ-Sophia’s love, and with all of God’s holy ones, experience this love that surpasses all understanding, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. To God--whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine--” to God be glory in the Church and in Christ-Sophia through all generations, world without end! Amen”.( Eph3:17-19)

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, D.Min., a Sister for Christian Community, was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 31, 2006. Dr. Meehan is currently Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program for Global Ministries University, and is the author of 19 books, including “Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God,”,"The Healing Power of Prayer" and "Praying with Women of the Bible.", "Praying with Visionary Women". She presides at liturgies in Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, Florida and celebrates liturgies with groups in N.Va. She was ordained a bishop on April 19, 2009. Dr. Meehan can be reached at sofiabmm@aol.com

Comments about my Poem by Katy Zatsick:Sophia is the Greek word for Holy Wisdom. She appears in the Books of Proverbs and Wisdom in the Bible and is identified with Christ in the Gospels and New Testament.The reweaving by the Spirit is to heal the present negation of the feminine in the RC priesthood.Wholeness in RC emotional life and spirituality is found in the expression and experience of male and female, not the exclusion of one or the other.Our RCWP mission is to heal this mortal wounding in the RCC spiritual collective consciousness of our faith community.Although God is Mystery and has no gender, we find God through the spirituality of both men and women priests and all in the circles of our lives.This poem expresses the experience of the spiritual healing arising from the ordination of women ANDThe ordination of women by the whole community of faith-both male and female.

A Poem by Katy Zatsick:

Sophia Reweaves

We gather in communityThe cross draped in red hanging above us.Sophia’s presence:Life, death, life before us.

Sophia flowing through Her communityRibbons of color from our handsWeaving and reweaving our brokennessHealing our wounds:Male and female---wholeHoliness,Healing the People of God.

Sophia smilesPleased with Her daughters and sonsEnfleshing healing of theSoul of Her Beloved CommunitySoul of humanity“That all be made one”One in consciousness of Her ever-creating LoveOrdination into wholeness.

Sophia, presider and Priestly PeopleMale and femaleOne act of worship and blessing.Amen.Alleluia

Bishop Christine Mayr-Lumetzbergerfrom Austria.http://tvthek.orf.at/programs/1283-Club-2/episodes/2893931-CLUB-2On Sept. 14, 2011, Bishop Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger participated on an important talk how in Austria, together with Helmut Schueller, leader of the Priests Initiatve of the parish-priests in Austria.The program is in German.Bishop Christine has presided at liturgies with Roman Catholic male priests in Austria.

Int'l Criminal Court urged to investigate Vatican officialsPope, secretaries of state and CDF heads named in petitionSep. 13, 2011 NCR ONLINEByTom Roberts"Lawyers today filed a petition with the International Criminal Court on behalf of clergy sex abuse victims urging an investigation of high-ranking Roman Catholic Church leaders, including Pope Benedict XVI, charging that the widespread sexual abuse by priests in various countries and the handling of those cases by bishops and authorities in the Vatican constitute widespread human rights abuses.The communication filed with the court in Hague in the Netherlands is comparable to the filing of a complaint with a district attorney’s office in the United States, said Pamela C. Spees, senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York based organization that has its roots in the Civil Rights era and that seeks to use law to effect social change.The complaint names Pope Benedict XVI, both in his current capacity and as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he was head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has responsibility for handling sex abuse cases; the former and current Vatican secretaries of state, Angelo Sodano, who held the office from 1991 to 2006, and Tarcisio Bertone, who was appointed Sodano’s successor; and U.S. Cardinal William Levada, former archbishop of San Francisco, who was appointed by Benedict to succeed him in the doctrine congregation.""In a Sept. 9 interview, Spees said the center argues that similar patterns have emerged time and again in various countries as a result of what she termed “a culture of sexual violence within the church.” While most of the investigations of clergy sex abuse have occurred in discrete locations and were confined to individual dioceses, she said, “when you zoom out and see the same policies and practices” occurring internationally and “when you look at what’s been documented and the brutality of it,” she said, the justification for an international investigation becomes clear. An investigation is also justifiable, the lawyers argue, under the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty establishing the court as a result of increasing international concern about wartime crimes including rape and other forms of sexual violence. The center maintains that the widespread incidence of sexual violence by Catholic clergy and the hierarchy’s attempt to keep it secret satisfies the statute’s definition of attacks against a civilian population.""Today’s filing was done in cooperation with SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, which advocates for the rights of sex abuse victims. SNAP has worked with CCR for the past 18 months translating its vast store of details about sex abuse cases involving priests into evidence supporting an international case, according to Barbara Blaine, a Chicago attorney and founder of SNAP. Blaine was first abused by a priest when she was in the seventh grade.""In an initial filing with the court last May -- a communication establishing that the organization planned to file a far more detailed brief in the future -- the CCR made its argument for use of the ICC. Rape, said the letter, “constitutes a crime within jurisdiction of the court.” The center argues that “rape and other forms of sexual violence … are serious offenses and acts of violence and should also be investigated and prosecuted as forms of torture.”“Crimes against tens of thousands of victims, most of them children, are being covered up by officials at the highest level of the Vatican. In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome,” said Spees in a statement posted on the CCR Web site this morning. “These men operate with impunity and without accountability. The Vatican officials charged in this case are responsible for rape and other sexual violence and for the physical and psychological torture of victims around the world both through command responsibility and through direct cover up of crimes. They should be brought to trial like any other officials guilty of crimes against humanity.”:The Rome statute, says the communication, recognizes “the evolution of rape law” and “the fact that rape and other forms of sexual violence are often committed under coercive circumstances that negate the possibility of genuine consent. This is especially important in cases involving child victims and vulnerable adults, particularly where, as here, the perpetrator is an authority figure to which the victim feels compelled to submit...”

http://ncronline.org/news/people/canon-lawyer-questions-maryknolls-move-against-bourgeoisFr. Tom Doyle argues for ability to 'act and think according to conscience'Sep. 14, 2011 – National Catholic Reporter By Tom Roberts"In one of several documents filed with Dougherty between Aug. 15 and Aug. 30, Doyle explains that Bourgeois’ defense is based on two rationales: first, Bourgeois’ right to not violate his conscience and, second, his conviction that ordination of women is not an infallible teaching. Doyle said Bourgeois believes the teaching is not “so essential to the core beliefs of Catholic Christians that to question or reject it is tantamount to a rejection of the fundamental teachings of Jesus Christ which form the core of Catholicism as a people of God.”"Bourgeois’ view of women’s ordination “is shared by countless others, including scripture scholars, theologians and church historians from among the ranks of the laity, priesthood and episcopacy,” Doyle said. Bourgeois formed his views, Doyle said, “in an unselfish and honest manner, well-aware of the consequences of taking a position that is contrary to the present and past pope as well as most (at least) of the Vatican curia.” "At the same time, argues Doyle, there is “no evidence of either consensus or unanimity among theologians, scripture scholars and bishops” that the ban on women’s ordination is “solidly grounded” in either tradition or teaching of the church, as asserted by the late Pope John Paul II in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.“There is a massive body of scholarly work,” writes Doyle, “that credibly challenges the assertion that Jesus ordained anyone as priests and an equally credible and persuasive body of scholarly work that can find no consistent and continuous theological tradition that would support the preclusion of women from sacred orders, other than the tradition that official power in the church has been held by men.”Doyle also challenged imposition of the punishment of automatic excommunication, saying it did not conform to the requirements of canon law in this case because Bourgeois’ actions do not involve a “malicious disregard” for church authority but rather his belief “that to act contrary to the dictates of his conscience … would be tantamount to a serious sin on his part.”

SAN ANTONIO--"Women are defying the Vatican and being ordained as Catholic priests.85-year-old Adele Jones who lives in SanAntonio belongs to the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests. "I'm the first woman in Texas to be ordained a Roman Catholic Women priest, and the oldest in the world, " said Jones....Jones said she went on the receive a Master's degree in Theology and then a Doctorate in Ministry and Pastoral Counseling."I got my Doctorate when I was 70 years old so I guess I'm a late bloomer, " added Jones...Jones said currently there are 124 women Priests who belong to the Association of Catholic Women Priests. "We are growing, " added Jones. Jones went on to say she will focus her ministry toward the Gay and Lesbian community."

Bishop of Derry calls for end to celibacy in Catholic churchBishop Daly's proposal will meet with dogged silence in the Vatican, but widespread understanding in the Roman Catholic church. ...Bridget Mary's Reflection:Another break in the hierarchy's resistance to renewal. Great to hear Irish bishop Daly speaking out. I wonder how he feels about women priests. That may be his next statement! You go, Irish Priests Association!

Associated Press Story =Sep 13, 8:46 AM EDT"Abuse victims seek int'l court case against pope "By MIKE CORDER and RACHEL ZOLL Associated PressEXCERPTS:Clergy sex abuse victims upset that no high-ranking Roman Catholic leaders have been prosecuted for sheltering guilty priests went to the International Criminal Court on Tuesday, seeking an investigation of the pope and top Vatican cardinals for possible crimes against humanity."When a church has been left to its own devices it does nothing. It wouldn't even have the reforms it has now if these cases hadn't begun to bubble up and erupt in the public outside the confines of what the church can control," said Spees."These priests and church officials live by some other law," she said. "Somehow they're not held accountable like every other citizen of a nation."

Monday, September 12, 2011

http://www.abc.net.au/sundaynights/stories/s3315287.htmSunday, September 11, 2011 by Noel Debien with Dr Patricia Fresen"If you are a religious person, how much would you sacrifice for your beliefs?Our guest on the good life in this episode is a formally excommunicated Catholic- the first one I have ever met in person. Heretic or woman of conscience? You decide.South African Dr Patricia Fresen is a former Dominican nun, a Professor of Systematic theology, and now says she is ordained as a Roman Catholic bishop. Patricia Fresen's ecclesiastical crime was not stealing money or engaging in corruption. She was not charged with sexually assaulting minors. Rather she was charged with something far worse in the eyes of Catholic church law. She says she has been secretly ordained a bishop by a male Catholic bishop in good standing, and refuses to recant her position. She told the ABC the bishop who ordained her believes it is right to ordain women as well as men. As you would know dear listener, for a woman to be ordained in the Catholic church is one of the most serious of crimes against the catholic faith. The Goodlife spoke with South African Patricia Fresen to find out why, in her personal journey to lead the goodlife, she defied the authority of the Catholic church she served for 45 years as a nun to follow her own conscience. Accordingly, she risked everything to lead her new organisation..." Stay tuned for next Sunday/ Part 2/ Bishop Patricia Fresen's Story"

FIONA GARTLANDMon, Sep 12, 2011CATHOLIC WOMEN should write to bishops around the country in protest at sexist language in the new version of the Roman missal, one of the founders of the Association of Catholic Priests has said.Speaking yesterday as the first of many changes to the Mass were introduced in churches here, Fr Seán McDonagh said it was obvious from the language of the new missal that not a single woman had been consulted while it was being drawn up....Critics have said the new version, which includes multiple uses of man and men to mean both men and women, is sexist. Responses such as “and with your spirit” to replace “and also with you”, have been criticised as archaic. And the use of words like “consubstantial” to replace “one being with” have been labelled elitist and obscure.Fr McDonagh said it was regrettable that priests had to fight a linguistic battle over inclusiveness when it should be taken for granted. “Women should write to their bishops and tell them ‘I am not a man’,” he said...